Died 1922-06-18.
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Jacobus Kapteyn
Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way. He found that the apparent movement of stars was not randomly distributed but had two preferential directions: the two star streams. This discovery was later reinterpreted as evidence for galactic rotation. Kapteyn also suggested that these stellar velocities could be used to find the amount of non…
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science · Dutch astronomer (1851–1922) · astronomer · university teacher · physicist · also Jacobus Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteijn, J. C. Kapteijn, Kapteyn
Born 19 January 1851 · Died 18 June 1922 · Q156892
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1922· 2 entries
And described a lens-shaped island universe of which the density decreased away from the center, now known as the Kapteyn Universe
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1921· 1 entry
At the age of seventy, but on the request of his former student and director of Leiden Observatory Willem de Sitter, Kapteyn went back to Leiden to assist in upgrading the observatory to contemporary astronomical standar
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1919· 1 entry
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1919).
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1913· 2 entries
Won Bruce Medal (1913).
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Won James Craig Watson Medal (1913).
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1910· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1910).
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1906· 1 entry
Kapteyn launched a plan for a major study of the distribution of stars in the Galaxy, using counts of stars in different directions
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1904· 1 entry
Studying the proper motions of stars, Kapteyn reported that these were not random, as it was believed in that time; stars could be divided into two streams, moving in nearly opposite directions
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1902· 1 entry
Won Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1902).
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1897· 1 entry
As part of the above work, he discovered Kapteyn's Star
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1888· 1 entry
Became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
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1875· 1 entry
After having finished his thesis, he worked for three years at the Leiden Observatory, before becoming the first Professor of Astronomy and Theoretical Mechanics at the University of Groningen, where he remained until hi
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1851· 1 entry
Born 1851-01-19.
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